OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Treewidth reduction for constrained separation and bipartization problems
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2010
Year: 2010

We present a method for reducing the treewidth of a graph while preserving all the minimal $s-t$ separators. This technique turns out to be very useful for establishing the fixed-parameter tractability of constrained separation and bipartization problems. To demonstrate the power of this technique, we prove the fixed-parameter tractability of a number of well-known separation and bipartization problems with various additional restrictions (e.g., the vertices being removed from the graph form an independent set). These results answer a number of open questions in the area of parameterized complexity.
Construction of Codes for Wiretap Channel and Secret Key Agreement from Correlated Source Outputs by Using Sparse Matrices
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

The aim of this paper is to prove coding theorems for the wiretap channel coding problem and secret key agreement problem based on the the notion of a hash property for an ensemble of functions. These theorems imply that codes using sparse matrices can achieve the optimal rate. Furthermore, fixed-rate universal coding theorems for a wiretap channel and a secret key agreement are also proved.
The Distribution and Deposition Algorithm for Multiple Sequences Sets
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2010
Year: 2010

Sequences set is a mathematical model used in many applications. As the number of the sequences becomes larger, single sequence set model is not appropriate for the rapidly increasing problem sizes. For example, more and more text processing applications separate a single big text file into multiple files before processing. For these applications, the underline mathematical model is multiple sequences sets (MSS). Though there is increasing use of MSS, there is little research on how to process MSS efficiently. To process multiple sequences sets, sequences are first distributed to different sets, and then sequences for each set are processed. Deriving effective algorithm for MSS processing is both interesting and challenging. In this paper, we have defined the cost functions and performance ratio for analysis of the quality of synthesis sequences. Based on these, the problem of Process of Multiple Sequences Sets (PMSS) is formulated. We have first proposed two greedy algorithms for the PMSS problem, which are based on generalization of algorithms for single sequences set. Then based on the analysis of the characteristics of multiple sequences sets, we have proposed the Distribution and Deposition (DDA) algorithm and DDA* algorithm for PMSS problem. In DDA algorithm, the sequences are first distributed to multiple sets according to their alphabet contents; then sequences in each set are deposited by the deposition algorithm. The DDA* algorithm differs from the DDA algorithm in that the DDA* algorithm distributes sequences by clustering based on sequence profiles. Experiments show that DDA and DDA* always output results with smaller costs than other algorithms, and DDA* outperforms DDA in most instances. The DDA and DDA* algorithms are also efficient both in time and space.
Boosting through Optimization of Margin Distributions
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2010
Year: 2010

Boosting has attracted much research attention in the past decade. The success of boosting algorithms may be interpreted in terms of the margin theory. Recently it has been shown that generalization error of classifiers can be obtained by explicitly taking the margin distribution of the training data into account. Most of the current boosting algorithms in practice usually optimizes a convex loss function and do not make use of the margin distribution. In this work we design a new boosting algorithm, termed margin-distribution boosting (MDBoost), which directly maximizes the average margin and minimizes the margin variance simultaneously. This way the margin distribution is optimized. A totally-corrective optimization algorithm based on column generation is proposed to implement MDBoost. Experiments on UCI datasets show that MDBoost outperforms AdaBoost and LPBoost in most cases.
Learning Character Strings via Mastermind Queries, with a Case Study Involving mtDNA
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2010
Year: 2010

We study the degree to which a character string, $Q$, leaks details about itself any time it engages in comparison protocols with a strings provided by a querier, Bob, even if those protocols are cryptographically guaranteed to produce no additional information other than the scores that assess the degree to which $Q$ matches strings offered by Bob. We show that such scenarios allow Bob to play variants of the game of Mastermind with $Q$ so as to learn the complete identity of $Q$. We show that there are a number of efficient implementations for Bob to employ in these Mastermind attacks, depending on knowledge he has about the structure of $Q$, which show how quickly he can determine $Q$. Indeed, we show that Bob can discover $Q$ using a number of rounds of test comparisons that is much smaller than the length of $Q$, under reasonable assumptions regarding the types of scores that are returned by the cryptographic protocols and whether he can use knowledge about the distribution that $Q$ comes from. We also provide the results of a case study we performed on a database of mitochondrial DNA, showing the vulnerability of existing real-world DNA data to the Mastermind attack.
An Application of Proof-Theory in Answer Set Programming
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2010
Year: 2010

We apply proof-theoretic techniques in answer Set Programming. The main results include: 1. A characterization of continuity properties of Gelfond-Lifschitz operator for logic program. 2. A propositional characterization of stable models of logic programs (without referring to loop formulas.
A 4/3-competitive randomized algorithm for online scheduling of packets with agreeable deadlines
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2010
Year: 2010

In 2005 Li et al. gave a phi-competitive deterministic online algorithm for scheduling of packets with agreeable deadlines with a very interesting analysis. This is known to be optimal due to a lower bound by Hajek. We claim that the algorithm by Li et al. can be slightly simplified, while retaining its competitive ratio. Then we introduce randomness to the modified algorithm and argue that the competitive ratio against oblivious adversary is at most 4/3. Note that this still leaves a gap between the best known lower bound of 5/4 by Chin et al. for randomised algorithms against oblivious adversary.
Solving $k$-Nearest Neighbor Problem on Multiple Graphics Processors
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2010
Year: 2010

The recommendation system is a software system to predict customers' unknown preferences from known preferences. In the recommendation system, customers' preferences are encoded into vectors, and finding the nearest vectors to each vector is an essential part. This vector-searching part of the problem is called a $k$-nearest neighbor problem. We give an effective algorithm to solve this problem on multiple graphics processor units (GPUs). Our algorithm consists of two parts: an $N$-body problem and a partial sort. For a algorithm of the $N$-body problem, we applied the idea of a known algorithm for the $N$-body problem in physics, although another trick is need to overcome the problem of small sized shared memory. For the partial sort, we give a novel GPU algorithm which is effective for small $k$. In our partial sort algorithm, a heap is accessed in parallel by threads with a low cost of synchronization. Both of these two parts of our algorithm utilize maximal power of coalesced memory access, so that a full bandwidth is achieved. By an experiment, we show that when the size of the problem is large, an implementation of the algorithm on two GPUs runs more than 330 times faster than a single core implementation on a latest CPU. We also show that our algorithm scales well with respect to the number of GPUs.
Correcting a Fraction of Errors in Nonbinary Expander Codes with Linear Programming
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

A linear-programming decoder for \emph{nonbinary} expander codes is presented. It is shown that the proposed decoder has the maximum-likelihood certificate properties. It is also shown that this decoder corrects any pattern of errors of a relative weight up to approximately 1/4 δ_A δ_B (where δ_A and δ_B are the relative minimum distances of the constituent codes).
A note on uniform power connectivity in the SINR model
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2010
Year: 2010

In this paper we study the connectivity problem for wireless networks under the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) model. Given a set of radio transmitters distributed in some area, we seek to build a directed strongly connected communication graph, and compute an edge coloring of this graph such that the transmitter-receiver pairs in each color class can communicate simultaneously. Depending on the interference model, more or less colors, corresponding to the number of frequencies or time slots, are necessary. We consider the SINR model that compares the received power of a signal at a receiver to the sum of the strength of other signals plus ambient noise . The strength of a signal is assumed to fade polynomially with the distance from the sender, depending on the so-called path-loss exponent $α$. We show that, when all transmitters use the same power, the number of colors needed is constant in one-dimensional grids if $α>1$ as well as in two-dimensional grids if $α>2$. For smaller path-loss exponents and two-dimensional grids we prove upper and lower bounds in the order of $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$ and $Ω(\log n/\log\log n)$ for $α=2$ and $Θ(n^{2/α-1})$ for $α<2$ respectively. If nodes are distributed uniformly at random on the interval $[0,1]$, a \emph{regular} coloring of $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$ colors guarantees connectivity, while $Ω(\log \log n)$ colors are required for any coloring.
A closest vector problem arising in radiation therapy planning
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2010
Year: 2010

In this paper we consider the problem of finding a vector that can be written as a nonnegative integer linear combination of given 0-1 vectors, the generators, such that the l_1-distance between this vector and a given target vector is minimized. We prove that this closest vector problem is NP-hard to approximate within a O(d) additive error, where d is the dimension of the ambient vector space. We show that the problem can be approximated within a O(d^{3/2}) additive error in polynomial time, by rounding an optimal solution of a natural LP relaxation for the problem. We also observe that in the particular case where the target vector is integer and the generators form a totally unimodular matrix, the problem can be solved in polynomial time. The closest vector problem arises in the elaboration of radiation therapy plans. In this context, the target is a nonnegative integer matrix and the generators are certain 0-1 matrices whose rows satisfy the consecutive ones property. Here we mainly consider the version of the problem in which the set of generators comprises all those matrices that have on each nonzero row a number of ones that is at least a certain constant. This set of generators encodes the so-called minimum separation constraint.
The Visualization of the Road Coloring Algorithm in the package TESTAS
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2010
Year: 2010

A synchronizing word of a deterministic automaton is a word in the alphabet of colors of its edges that maps the automaton to a single state. A coloring of edges of a directed graph is synchronizing if the coloring turns the graph into a deterministic finite automaton possessing a synchronizing word. The road coloring problem is the problem of synchronizing coloring of a directed finite strongly connected graph with constant outdegree of all its vertices if the greatest common divisor of the lengths of all its cycles is one. A polynomial time algorithm of the road coloring has been based on recent positive solution of this old famous problem. One can use our new visualization program for demonstration of the algorithm as well as for visualization of the transition graph of any finite automaton. The visual image presents some structure properties of the transition graph. This help tool is linear in the size of the automaton.
Throughput-Optimal Opportunistic Scheduling in the Presence of Flow-Level Dynamics
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2010
Year: 2010

We consider multiuser scheduling in wireless networks with channel variations and flow-level dynamics. Recently, it has been shown that the MaxWeight algorithm, which is throughput-optimal in networks with a fixed number users, fails to achieve the maximum throughput in the presence of flow-level dynamics. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm, called workload-based scheduling with learning, which is provably throughput-optimal, requires no prior knowledge of channels and user demands, and performs significantly better than previously suggested algorithms.
Telescoping Recursive Representations and Estimation of Gauss-Markov Random Fields
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

We present \emph{telescoping} recursive representations for both continuous and discrete indexed noncausal Gauss-Markov random fields. Our recursions start at the boundary (a hypersurface in $\R^d$, $d \ge 1$) and telescope inwards. For example, for images, the telescoping representation reduce recursions from $d = 2$ to $d = 1$, i.e., to recursions on a single dimension. Under appropriate conditions, the recursions for the random field are linear stochastic differential/difference equations driven by white noise, for which we derive recursive estimation algorithms, that extend standard algorithms, like the Kalman-Bucy filter and the Rauch-Tung-Striebel smoother, to noncausal Markov random fields.
Matrix P-norms are NP-hard to approximate if p \neq 1,2,\infty
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2010
Year: 2010

We show that for any rational p \in [1,\infty) except p = 1, 2, unless P = NP, there is no polynomial-time algorithm for approximating the matrix p-norm to arbitrary relative precision. We also show that for any rational p\in [1,\infty) including p = 1, 2, unless P = NP, there is no polynomial-time algorithm approximates the \infty, p mixed norm to some fixed relative precision.
Optimization of Training and Feedback Overhead for Beamforming over Block Fading Channels
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

We examine the capacity of beamforming over a single-user, multi-antenna link taking into account the overhead due to channel estimation and limited feedback of channel state information. Multi-input single-output (MISO) and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channels are considered subject to block Rayleigh fading. Each coherence block contains $L$ symbols, and is spanned by $T$ training symbols, $B$ feedback bits, and the data symbols. The training symbols are used to obtain a Minimum Mean Squared Error estimate of the channel matrix. Given this estimate, the receiver selects a transmit beamforming vector from a codebook containing $2^B$ {\em i.i.d.} random vectors, and sends the corresponding $B$ bits back to the transmitter. We derive bounds on the beamforming capacity for MISO and MIMO channels and characterize the optimal (rate-maximizing) training and feedback overhead ($T$ and $B$) as $L$ and the number of transmit antennas $N_t$ both become large. The optimal $N_t$ is limited by the coherence time, and increases as $L/\log L$. For the MISO channel the optimal $T/L$ and $B/L$ (fractional overhead due to training and feedback) are asymptotically the same, and tend to zero at the rate $1/\log N_t$. For the MIMO channel the optimal feedback overhead $B/L$ tends to zero faster (as $1/\log^2 N_t$).
On optimal heuristic randomized semidecision procedures, with application to proof complexity
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2010
Year: 2010

The existence of a (p-)optimal propositional proof system is a major open question in (proof) complexity; many people conjecture that such systems do not exist. Krajicek and Pudlak (1989) show that this question is equivalent to the existence of an algorithm that is optimal on all propositional tautologies. Monroe (2009) recently gave a conjecture implying that such algorithm does not exist. We show that in the presence of errors such optimal algorithms do exist. The concept is motivated by the notion of heuristic algorithms. Namely, we allow the algorithm to claim a small number of false "theorems" (according to any samplable distribution on non-tautologies) and err with bounded probability on other inputs. Our result can also be viewed as the existence of an optimal proof system in a class of proof systems obtained by generalizing automatizable proof systems.
A Monte Carlo AIXI Approximation
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2010
Year: 2010

This paper introduces a principled approach for the design of a scalable general reinforcement learning agent. Our approach is based on a direct approximation of AIXI, a Bayesian optimality notion for general reinforcement learning agents. Previously, it has been unclear whether the theory of AIXI could motivate the design of practical algorithms. We answer this hitherto open question in the affirmative, by providing the first computationally feasible approximation to the AIXI agent. To develop our approximation, we introduce a new Monte-Carlo Tree Search algorithm along with an agent-specific extension to the Context Tree Weighting algorithm. Empirically, we present a set of encouraging results on a variety of stochastic and partially observable domains. We conclude by proposing a number of directions for future research.
Multiuser MISO Transmitter Optimization for Inter-Cell Interference Mitigation
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

The transmitter optimization (i.e., steering vectors and power allocation) for a MISO Broadcast Channel (MISO-BC) subject to general linear constraints is considered. Such constraints include, as special cases, the sum power, the per-antenna or per-group-of-antennas power, and "forbidden interference direction" constraints. We consider both the optimal dirty-paper coding and the simple suboptimal linear zero-forcing beamforming strategies, and provide numerically efficient algorithms that solve the problem in its most general form. As an application, we consider a multi-cell scenario with partial cell cooperation, where each cell optimizes its precoder by taking into account interference constraints on specific users in adjacent cells. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is evaluated in a simple system scenario including two adjacent cells, under different fairness criteria that emphasize the bottleneck role of users near the cell "boundary". Our results show that "active" Inter-Cell Interference (ICI) mitigation outperforms the conventional "static" ICI mitigation based on fractional frequency reuse.
Sum Capacity of MIMO Interference Channels in the Low Interference Regime
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2010
Year: 2010

Using Gaussian inputs and treating interference as noise at the receivers has recently been shown to be sum capacity achieving for the two-user single-input single-output (SISO) Gaussian interference channel in a low interference regime, where the interference levels are below certain thresholds. In this paper, such a low interference regime is characterized for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) Gaussian interference channels. Conditions are provided on the direct and cross channel gain matrices under which using Gaussian inputs and treating interference as noise at the receivers is sum capacity achieving. For the special cases of the symmetric multiple-input single-output (MISO) and single-input multiple-output (SIMO) Gaussian interference channels, more explicit expressions for the low interference regime are derived. In particular, the threshold on the interference levels that characterize low interference regime is related to the input SNR and the angle between the direct and cross channel gain vectors. It is shown that the low interference regime can be quite significant for MIMO interference channels, with the low interference threshold being at least as large as the sine of the angle between the direct and cross channel gain vectors for the MISO and SIMO cases.
Fast and flexible selection with a single switch
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2010
Year: 2010

Selection methods that require only a single-switch input, such as a button click or blink, are potentially useful for individuals with motor impairments, mobile technology users, and individuals wishing to transmit information securely. We present a single-switch selection method, "Nomon," that is general and efficient. Existing single-switch selection methods require selectable options to be arranged in ways that limit potential applications. By contrast, traditional operating systems, web browsers, and free-form applications (such as drawing) place options at arbitrary points on the screen. Nomon, however, has the flexibility to select any point on a screen. Nomon adapts automatically to an individual's clicking ability; it allows a person who clicks precisely to make a selection quickly and allows a person who clicks imprecisely more time to make a selection without error. Nomon reaps gains in information rate by allowing the specification of beliefs (priors) about option selection probabilities and by avoiding tree-based selection schemes in favor of direct (posterior) inference. We have developed both a Nomon-based writing application and a drawing application. To evaluate Nomon's performance, we compared the writing application with a popular existing method for single-switch writing (row-column scanning). Novice users wrote 35% faster with the Nomon interface than with the scanning interface. An experienced user (author TB, with > 10 hours practice) wrote at speeds of 9.3 words per minute with Nomon, using 1.2 clicks per character and making no errors in the final text.
Perfect Matchings in O(n \log n) Time in Regular Bipartite Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2010
Year: 2010

In this paper we consider the well-studied problem of finding a perfect matching in a d-regular bipartite graph on 2n nodes with m=nd edges. The best-known algorithm for general bipartite graphs (due to Hopcroft and Karp) takes time O(m\sqrt{n}). In regular bipartite graphs, however, a matching is known to be computable in O(m) time (due to Cole, Ost and Schirra). In a recent line of work by Goel, Kapralov and Khanna the O(m) time algorithm was improved first to \tilde O(min{m, n^{2.5}/d}) and then to \tilde O(min{m, n^2/d}). It was also shown that the latter algorithm is optimal up to polylogarithmic factors among all algorithms that use non-adaptive uniform sampling to reduce the size of the graph as a first step. In this paper, we give a randomized algorithm that finds a perfect matching in a d-regular graph and runs in O(n\log n) time (both in expectation and with high probability). The algorithm performs an appropriately truncated random walk on a modified graph to successively find augmenting paths. Our algorithm may be viewed as using adaptive uniform sampling, and is thus able to bypass the limitations of (non-adaptive) uniform sampling established in earlier work. We also show that randomization is crucial for obtaining o(nd) time algorithms by establishing an Ω(nd) lower bound for any deterministic algorithm. Our techniques also give an algorithm that successively finds a matching in the support of a doubly stochastic matrix in expected time O(n\log^2 n) time, with O(m) pre-processing time; this gives a simple O(m+mn\log^2 n) time algorithm for finding the Birkhoff-von Neumann decomposition of a doubly stochastic matrix.